Seventh pole position of the season for the Repsol rider after a progressive improvement during the practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix
Marc was ninth yesterday in the first free session, eighth in the second and second in the third session held this morning. Step by step, Márquez kept improving with his sights set first on this afternoon’s qualifying, but also on tomorrow’s race. In the qualifying session, the Repsol rider set his seventh pole position of the season, showing that his ready and in full form for a new battle in the most competitive class of the championship.
The good job done at Marc Márquez’s box was clear again in the last free practice session held this morning, where Emilio Alzamora’s pupil dramatically improved his results of yesterday. The Repsol rider finished only 28 thousandths behind Swiss rider Thomas Luthi, showing a great improvement in the setup of his Moto2 from yesterday’s sessions.
In the all-important qualifying practice, Márquez did not left any margin to surprises. With the threat of rain on the Japanese track, he took the lead in the first minutes, improving by almost a second last year’s pole position and he kept that position for the rest of the session. In the last minutes, when he was improving his times further, he had a scare and was about to crash. The Repsol rider saved the crash but then he signed a last lap to the limit where he improved his time again, stopping the clock in 1 minute, 52 seconds and 67 thousandths, 722 thousandths faster than Stefan Bradl, the World Championship leader, that today was not able to get better than an eighth place.
Marc Márquez >> Audio
FP3 – 1:52.698, 18 voltes, 86 km.
QP – 1:52.067, 18 voltes, 86 km.
“The practice went very well and I think we did a good job. This makes us happy for tomorrow’ race, as yesterday it took us a bit to find the good setup and today we took the step we needed. This circuit is a bit different from the last few tracks we were in, it has many hard braking zones and that forced us to work more than usual. The important thing is that we were in front, as yesterday we took it calmly, because we did not want to risk a crash. Today went well, but we have to keep working tomorrow in the ‘warm-up’. I think we can have a good race, or at least to fight for the podium”.
